Joanne Charles looks over acreage the Semiahmoo First Nation owns in Surrey on January 17, 2013. The band is concerned a proposed casino nearby will impact their plans.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ Vancouver Sun

Joanne Charles looks over acreage the Semiahmoo First Nation owns in Surrey on January 17, 2013. The band is concerned a proposed casino nearby will impact their plans.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ Vancouver Sun

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The Semiahmoo First Nation plans to take the City of Surrey or B.C. Lottery Corp. to court if a gaming licence is approved for a proposed $100-million casino resort in south Surrey.

Semiahmoo band Coun. Joanne Charles said the band is consulting its lawyers on potential legal action with concerns the first nation was not properly consulted on the project and potentially faces an economic loss as it has also considered building a five-star hotel, conference centre and casino on 20 acres of its land on Beach Road near the U.S. border.

Public hearings regarding the proposal — from Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. and BCLC — are scheduled to resume Friday night. The proposed project is slated for 12th Avenue and 168th Street.

Charles says the area cannot sustain two major resorts so close together and the province and the city did not fulfil their duty to consult with the Semiahmoo First Nation.

“We may not be able to have that option because this one will be located right there,” Charles said. “We’ll take whatever legal action might be necessary to protect our legal rights and title.”

Surrey city council will hear the remaining speakers who signed up Monday for a public hearing on the project. Nearly 200 people turned out for the start of the hearing earlier this week, with 74 opposed and 112 in favour of the proposal, which includes a 60,000-square-foot gambling floor, 200-room four-star hotel and 27,000 sq. ft convention and entertainment centre with restaurants and lounges.

Gateway wants to move the gaming licence it has for the Newton Bingo Country casino on King George Boulevard to the new facility, meaning the Newton casino would close. The project requires city council’s approval before a gaming licence can be issued.

Semiahmoo cannot make any legal action until the BCLC receives approval from the city to grant the gaming licence, Charles said. It can then oppose the move, and seek legal action, such as an injunction to halt the project until consultation has been done.

The move would be similar to that made in 2004 by the Musqueam First Nation in connection with the River Rock casino resort in Richmond, which resulted in court-ordered consultation.

The Musqueam First Nation had alleged that under the Gaming Control Act, the City of Richmond and the BCLC were bound to “consult first nations and participate in arbitration before approving and deciding to relocate and expand the casino.”

The River Rock development went ahead, but the band was given title to the 17-acre BridgePoint Casino lands and holds the lease on the River Rock Casino.

The Musqueam do not receive any share of casino revenue in the deal.

Charles, who spoke at the hearing Monday, said Semiahmoo has no view either way on the proposed casino but wants to be properly consulted.

She maintains the proposed casino is different from the River Rock controversy because no ground has yet been broken.

Semiahmoo is in the midst of developing a master plan for its lands, she said, potentially including a resort casino. Any development would require negotiations with either Surrey or White Rock for infrastructure services such as sewer and water hookups — both of which are now lacking at the reserve.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts was in Ottawa this week at a policing conference and could not be reached at press time.

Charles said the band is also concerned the new resort casino could potentially affect nearby Fergus Creek, migratory birds and wildlife and archaeological and burial sites, as well as lead to the “alienation” of first nations lands. If that land is developed, she said, there may be no chance in the future for the band to get it back.

“At some point in the future when we’re ready to develop there may not be any land left,” she said.

Charles maintains the band had previously made an application to BCLC for a casino license and “consideration should have been given to Semiahmoo First Nation; that should have been a priority for the BCLC.

“If the B.C. Lottery Corp keeps on giving out licences close to reserve lands, we’re never going to have the opportunity to have casinos,” she said.

BCLC spokeswoman Kim Steinbart said she couldn’t confirm the previous application by Semiahmoo, as the corporation’s records do not go back as far as 1997, when Charles said it was made.

In an email, she said BCLC is satisfied with the consultation process the city of Surrey has undertaken with neighbouring municipalities, as required under the Gaming Control Act and Regulations.

In a letter sent to B.C. Premier Christy Clark last November, Grand Chief Joe Hall said first nations will work to expose the “discriminatory practices of BCLC in deliberately rejecting proposals by aboriginal communities to host gaming facilities in favour of non-first nation applicants.”

Hall said they will also pursue opportunities for first nations to access direct benefits from gaming in B.C.

BCLC said first nations have the same opportunities and are subject to the same rules, regulations, guidelines and restrictions as other British Columbians. First nations who host community gaming centres or casinos on reserve lands receive 10 per cent of the net revenue generated from casino gaming.

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